‘Will Arsene Wenger be remembered one hundred years from now? You bet your life he will’

ROY KEANE has launched a scathing attack on Sky Sports, claiming he “would rather go to the dentist’’ that ever appear on the channel again as a pundit.

And the Sunderland boss, who plans to request a personal hearing to answer his first improper conduct charge as a manager, has also taken a swipe at the FA’s Respect campaign, which he dismissed as a “PR gimmick’’.

The outspoken Keane railed against criticism of Arsene Wenger on Sky in the wake of the row between the Arsenal boss and Stoke City after the Gunners’ shock defeat at the Britannia Stadium last weekend.

Wenger has come under fire from pundits on the satellite station for accusing Stoke of deliberately trying to injure his players.

But Keane insisted: “With Sky Sports, I think a lot of punters are getting brainwashed about what’s real and what’s not real. People are on about teams losing two or three games and it’s a crisis.

“It’s constantly being thrown in people’s faces. There was a debate the other day about Arsene Wenger on Sky – how crazy is that? People on Sky getting interviewed about Arsene Wenger, saying he shouldn’t be doing this.

“After what that man has done for the game, and we’re giving these people air time. I wouldn’t listen to these people in the pub and yet they are on the television constantly – ex-players, ex-referees getting interviewed constantly.

“They are giving their opinions and people are getting brainwashed. What you have to do is not get sucked into that nonsense and try to focus on your job. It’s hard, because people take notice of what’s been said, particularly with one or two of these stations. People say it’s good for the game. It’s not good for the game interviewing people about Arsene Wenger.

“There’s a debate on every day after someone has had a bad result — it’s crazy. It’s constantly coming at you and it’s not just Sky. Giving these people air time, I wouldn’t trust them to walk my dog. What would I rather watch? A documentary or something.

“I was asked last week by ITV to do the Celtic game and a couple of weeks before that I was asked to do the Celtic game at Old Trafford. I think I did it once for Sky, but never again. I would rather go to the dentist.

“You’re sitting there with people like Richard Keys, and they’re trying to sell something that’s not there. After the Newcastle game here a couple of weeks ago, Richard Keys on Sky was talking about how we’d never seen anything like it, dressing things up that weren’t really there, because I think he was just in a bad mood. It happens.

“Any time I watch a game on TV, I have to turn the commentators off because they brainwash you. What I would say to anyone watching games is, ‘Don’t listen to the experts, just watch it and gather your own opinions’. I’m talking about the way they get every Tom, Dick or Harry on, and you think, ‘What have you ever achieved in sport’.

“Will Arsene Wenger be remembered in 25-50-100 years from now? You bet your life he will be. Will these people on the telly be remembered for what they have achieved in football?’’

KEANE also found time yesterday to hit out the FA after he was banished to the stand by referee Martin Atkinson following an exchange between them in the tunnel at half-time in the Black Cats’ 5-0 defeat at Chelsea a week ago.

He said: “I had big question marks at the time about this Respect campaign. Maybe it’s just a PR gimmick — probably was.

“Before games, they (referees) get the two managers — if the manager turns up, it’s usually one of his coaches. They (referees) talk about working together as a team.

“But to rub salt into the wounds, on Monday I received a call from the referee’s assessor and he said, ‘Thoughts on the referee?’ and I had a bit of a giggle. He said, ‘Clearly the second goal shouldn’t have stood and clearly it was a foul on (Pascal) Chimbonda for the third goal,’ and I said, ‘Yeah, tell me about it.’

“I had the same conversation two weeks ago and a number of times last season, and it got to the stage where even (referees’ chief) Keith Hackett rang me to apologise for the officials’ performances — now that’s saying something. I was calm last week, that’s why I was surprised at the charge.

“The last time I was at an FA charge, they had a murder lawyer against me and he was absolutely brilliant. It was for comments in my book about some Norwegian player (Alf-Inge Haaland). I bet he (the lawyer) was expensive, but it was just to make sure they won the bloody case — not that you get a fair hearing.’’

Keane added: “People asked when I got the job here if I could ever watch a game in the stand and I said, ‘Maybe once I’m comfortable with the team’. But after last week, no.’’

With Michael Chopra having rejoined Cardiff on loan and Martyn Waghorn struggling with an ankle injury for today’s home game against Tony Adams’ Portsmouth, Northern Ireland striker David Healy pressed his claims for his first Premier League start for Sunderland by scoring the winner for the reserves in midweek.

Keane, who signed Healy from Fulham in the summer for £1.5million (€1.85m), said: “I would say there are probably two or three players at this club who could come and see me and say, ‘I’ve not been given a fair crack of the whip’, and David has been a bit unfortunate because of the number of strikers I’ve had.

“I think he has been getting up to match speed and he got 90 minutes the other night and scored. I know he’s played a few games for the North in his time here and David has a good chance. We know what he’s about. I’m sure he’ll get an opportunity over the next few weeks and months.’’